Who is Andrew Altman and why should Frankford care?

Ed Bacon (Keven Bacon’s father to you young folks) inspired Andrew Altman to become a city planner. The Philadelphia native has landed back in Philadelphia to become mayor Nutter’s deputy mayor and commerce director.

What is city planning? It is what good cities do to plan for their growth. That is something we haven’t seen in Philadelphia in, well a long time.

Altman’s credentials are being touted as evidence that Nutter is serious about making planning important again, and ending years of seat-of-the-pants deal-making that marginalized the city’s professional staff.

This means that we are going in a new direction. There will be plans for the entire city.

Nutter has also talked about the riverfront as a “huge opportunity,” Altman said. “He told me about all the failed plans and said now is the time to get it done.” But, he said, he also expects to focus on neighborhoods bypassed by the recent development boom.

It would be an understatement to say we have been bypassed. Yes folks it’s time to get serious. Read the entire story from the Inquirer here.